RESOLUTION MARKS LANDMINE PROGRESS BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE

10.28.00pm GMT Fri 14th Dec 2007

The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution praising the good work done on landmine clearance and destruction in the ten years since the launch of the Ottawa Treaty but funding is not high enough and an estimated 200,000 km2 (the size of Senegal) remains contaminated with mines and other unexploded ordnance.

Liz Lynne MEP, (UK, LibDem) Member of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights and co-author of the resolution, has long campaigned against landmines and said:

"For the first time in history more mines are being destroyed than laid so we are turning the tide on these horrific weapons and those that still insist on producing and using them.

"The number of casualties has halved in five years but thousands more are killed and maimed each year in unreported incidents, so no-one can rest on their laurels.

"In particular it is of vital importance that the USA, Russia, China, India and Pakistan sign and ratify the treaty and commit to clearing and disarming.

"Yet I must stress this is not Europe simply pointing the finger at others, two EU Member States (Finland and Poland) still need to ratify the treaty and two Member States will have to work extremely hard to fulfill their treaty obligations in time.

"The EU and Member States also need to speed up progress on financially and technically helping affected countries deal with their contaminated land or stockpiles. We must also introduce the treaty into national and European legislation, banning any financial support by private or public financial institutions active on our territory to companies involved in the production, stockpiling or transfer of landmines."

"It is, however, tragic that the Ottawa Treaty never included the same conditions for cluster munitions, whose bomblets so often do not explode on impact and so have the same effect as landmines. This has led to a parallel, yet much slower, process for a cluster bomb ban which we must all push for, so ongoing horror such as the situation in Southern Lebanon never happens again."